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A conveyancer who failed to report important details to lender clients or follow their instructions in over 100 transactions has been fined £2,000 by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Meanwhile, an assistant solicitor who failed to secure a party’s interest in a property by registering a form at the Land Registry, has been fined £5,000 by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

A sole practitioner has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for a “catalogue of proven breaches” of the rules which “amounted to a masterclass in failure to comply with the basic requirements of practice as a solicitor”.

Free2Convey, the conveyancing portal designed as a free rival to the Law Society’s failed portal Veyo, is to relaunch itself to conveyancers, estate agents and the public “within weeks”, it has emerged. Matt Lancaster, who has led work on the portal, said he hoped it would be used by most conveyancing firms by the end of this year.

The Land Registry can sue a former law firm for negligent misrepresentation in not checking whether a mortgage discharge form was genuine, the High Court has decided. Master Matthews admitted there was no fiduciary relationship between law firm and Land Registry.

The proportion of people selecting their conveyancer on price has fallen to only one in ten, a survey of 5,400 home movers has shown. The same survey found that only three years ago 20% of clients chose the cheapest.

NAHL Group – the business that owns the National Accident Helpline – has accelerated its march into conveyancing with the launch of a legal comparison site. The Solicitor Finder is initially focused on the residential property sector but will be expanded into other sectors in due course.

Findings of dishonesty, especially against solicitors, should not be made without “the most careful consideration” of what they say in their defence, appeal judges have warned in a case in which they overturned a High Court decision that two solicitors were guilty of “dishonest assistance in a breach of trust”.

Free2Convey, which began as a free rival to failed conveyancing portal Veyo, is to formally launch to all conveyancers at the start of next month. Matt Lancaster, chair of Legal Software Suppliers Association, said the aim was to “create a trusted community”.

An ambitious new firm of licensed conveyancers has developed its own case-tracking app in a bid to become the biggest conveyancing business in the country. Managing director Simon Bath said the firm had funding from individual investors and private equity.

The managing director of a law firm involved in testing Veyo has described how the Law Society realised too late that it had “built something nobody wanted”. David Bridge said what was left of Veyo should be converted into a secure portal for conveyancers.